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| courtesy of HBO |
This third episode was
a fun one that featured exciting bow-and-arrow action sequences, a comedic
sexual encounter and a hand chopped off an owner who prides himself in his
ability to wield a sword. There have been times that the series has taken
itself so seriously, wrapped up in its own mythology, that the entertainment
quality begins to lack. Episodes like these provide for the type of sex,
violence and comedy that HBO prides itself on. I mentioned in my
latest Mad Men review that those who are only interested in the surface-level
sex and intrigue of the show would love that particular episode, and this
week's Game of Thrones fulfills that need for the fantasy, sex and
violence lovers. Even with these entertaining moments standing out, the
episode still finds room to advance the plot further for several characters,
including Daenerys, Stannis, and those beyond the Wall.
King's Landing
This episode features
the least amount of coverage of King's Landing since the start of the third
season, but it ironically has the most developments. Lord Tywin chastises
Varys for not having anything to report about Jaime's whereabouts, which is admittedly
rather suspicious. As Tywin notes, it is very strange that the man they
call "the Spider" cannot locate such a well-known member of the
Lannister family, though he is sure to be found soon, which I will get to
later. Tywin then announces the arrangement of a marriage between
Littlefinger and Lysa Arryn, in an attempt to win her family away from the
Stark side of the war. If this means we'll be seeing crazy Lysa and her
Oedipal relationship with her son again, I'm all for it, even if it means putting
yet another location into the third season's cycle of storylines. Her
storyline with Tyrion was one of the more entertaining elements of the first
season so this one will hopefully provide some comic relief. In
Littlefinger's stead, Tywin appoints Tyrion the new treasurer. Though his
stint as the Hand of the King developed his character well, this new position
should definitely give him more to do, given the increase in responsibility.
True to form, Tyrion uncovers a scheme of Littlefinger's, involving his
borrowing millions of gold from the Iron Bank of Braavos. He finds out
the loan is not paid back in time, the bank will switch sides and fund the
Starks instead. This isn't a particularly shocking development, coming
from Littlefinger, but it presents an interesting leverage point for Tyrion to
use against him in the future.
In the
Riverlands
Speaking of the
Starks, the episode opens with the ship burial of Catelyn's father, Lord Hoster
Tully. In a fun bit of character development, we see Hoster's son Edmure
attempt to ceremoniously set the ship on fire with a flaming bow-and-arrow but
fails miserably, forcing Hoster's brother Brynden to take it arch it with ease.
House Tully prides itself in this sort of cold, steely-eyed traditionalism,
so its no surprise to see Brynden publicly shaming his nephew. Later,
Catelyn talks to Brynden about the horror she's gone through as of late and
stares out the window, lost in thought. I understand why she would be
upset that she hasn't been there for any of her children or now her father, but
the show is starting to lay it on way too thick. Yes, she's stuck in a
situation she can't get out of and she feels lost without her family (sans
Robb) but the continuous self-pity seems slightly out-of-character for her
background. The Tullys are essentially a substitute for Vikings so its
hard to imagine she would be in this rut for so long. At some point she
will have to take action, even if the sexism of this world prevents her from
doing so. I have a feeling we'll see a turnaround soon.
Also in
the Riverlands
The most buzzed-about
scene in this episode was from Jaime Lannister, whose smooth-talking,
money-wielding swagger was not able to prevent him from getting his hand
chopped off. The men who captured Jaime and Brienne at the end of the
last episode tie them up to posts for safe-keeping and they try to rape
Brienne. Jaime, who has warmed up to the "brute of a woman"
tries to persuade the leader, Locke, that her father is in possession of
millions of sapphires, and he would be more than willing to pay them for his
daughter back. Locke plays along with Jaime and eventually unties him but
he is too clever to fall for Jaime's tricks. Locke holds him down and
proceeds to chop off Jaime's right hand, the hand that helped give him the name
"Kingslayer". I loved the director's choice to end the episode
with a rock version of the in-show tune "The Bear and the Maiden
Fair". The "dramatic climactic moment then cut to a cheeky rock
song device" has been used in other HBO shows, such as True Blood,
but in an episode as entertaining as this it fit right in. I wonder, now
that Jaime has been "crippled" in a way if he and brother Tyrion
might stage a better relationship. I'm sure Tyrion will find some way to
make the comparison to Jaime at some point.
Dragonstone
Poor Stannis.
The scene we get from him in this episode is completely emasculating and
shows how calculated Melisandre truly is. She tells him that she and her
powers are meant for King's blood, which Stannis has demonstrated himself to
not have (according to her, anyway). When he asks her for a son she
basically tells him he's too weak, and not enough of a man for her. There
are very few people on Stannis's side at the moment and I fear he will do
something drastic in the coming episodes.
Beyond the Wall
After visiting the
Fist of the First Men, Mance Rayder tells his wildlings and Jon Snow that they
will be waging war with the men of the Night's Watch in the coming days.
He asserts that the men who died at The Battle of the Fist of the First
Men have become White Walkers and orders a select group of men to find them on
the Wall. Ciarán Hinds is clearly having a
ball as Mance Rayder, and his line delivery on "If he's useful, good, if
not, throw him off the wall. See if crows can fly," was hammy as hell but
still great. Elsewhere, the men of the Night's Watch take shelter at
Craster's inn. There, Sam witnesses his first love Gilly give birth to a
boy, which means instant death-by-White-Walkers for the poor kid. Never
had a chance. Hopefully Sam can pull through for her.
Across
the Narrow Sea
Millions(?) of miles away, Daenerys informs the slaver of the Unsullied
that she would like to purchase all 8,000 of his men. This makes him
laugh, informing her that there's no way she could possibly afford all of them.
Against the council of Ser Jorah and Ser Barristan, she confidently
offers up one of her dragons. The slaver is understandably intrigued by
this offer and agrees immediately. She also requests the slave translator
Missandrei to be a part of the deal as well, and takes her on board. It's
not surprising that Ser Jorah and Ser Barristan are confused and furious with
Daenerys' decision, but I'm almost positive she has a trick up her sleeve.
For instance, she could very easily tell her Unsullied to kill the slaver
and get her dragon back. I'm not too worried about her decision.
On the
whole, this was a very entertaining episode that provided equal amounts of sexy
fantasy and story development, the kind of episode that exemplifies why Game
of Thrones has become such a cultural phenomenon. Some elements
need fixing, namely Catelyn's storyline, and some of the storylines are moving
at a glacial pace (Theon's, whose romp in this episode was too insignificant
for me to even mention) but it's still one of the most gripping shows on
television.
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